Kosher oils update info

[Guest guest]

I got a private reply from someone who wishes to remain

anonymous, but I've known her for years on this list,

and respect her wisdom. Her information is

enlightening, and after I did some editing she

requested, here is the information

re: kosher essential oils for flavor and fragrance.

 

> I'm just wondering what makes an oil or chemical kosher.

 

As wonder you might! Most oils/chemicals *are* (no doubt) kosher - but

unless they're *certified* kosher by one of the recognized kashrut

authorities, then manufacturers using them in their products can't get

kosher certification for those products.

 

One thing that would render an oil/chemical nonkosher would be if it

includes anything derived (even remotely) from nonkosher animals - ie,

from " forbidden " animals or from animals not slaughtered/prepared in the

prescribed way. That of course doesn't sound too likely in the case of an

eo, but the End User of a food product doesn't know that, and

kosher certification reassures the Kosher-Observant End User

that s/he doesn't need to worry about it. It also means s/he doesn't need

to worry about hair-raising issues like:

 

- Industrial-scale harvesting techniques suck up all kinds of nonkosher

bugs, birds and fieldmice along with the plant material, and who knows

that they're all *for sure* filtered out before the stuff goes into the

still?

 

- The equipment used to process/pack/store the substance might also be

used to process stuff derived from nonkosher animals, or to process

nonkosher combinations of meat and dairy, or it might be cleaned and/or

lubricated with stuff derived from nonkosher animals. Which means it

either has to be kashered (a special sterilization ritual) or else any

products it processes are nonkosher. (Did you know that there's such a

thing as kosher/nonkosher tin foil, nonkosher detergent, etc?)

 

(Anya here: she and I had some funny back-and-forth about me living in Miami

and asking these questions, when we have Glatt kosher delis, Kosher hotels,

etc. :-)

 

Kosher certification means a specially-trained authority has inspected the

production processes and promises that none of the above is happening.

 

Another requirement of kashrut that might have more relevance to eo's

and other flavor/fragrance substances is: Fruit from trees less than four

years old is not kosher. Now, I have no idea whether normal nonJewish

fruit production entails harvesting fruit from trees that are less than four

years old, so maybe this is a moot point, but again kosher certification

would assure anyone who cares that the oil or chemical doesn't include

anything derived from the fruit of immature trees.

 

(Anya again: she wrote me a few minutes later with this clarification to

the above paragraph:

>>> Fruit from trees less than four years old is not kosher.

>>

>>I looked this up, and find that it's debatable whether this applies only to

>>fruit grown in Israel or fruit grown elsewhere as well.

 

Those aren't all the rigors of kashrut, of course; and there are " degrees "

of kashrut, and also special requirements during Pesach, and special

requirements for plants grown in Israel, all specially designed to allow

every Jew to complicate his/her life to his/her heart's content. :] But

those are the main deals that come to mind in the flavor-and-fragrance

context.

 

(Anya again: I love the part about 'every Jew to complicate his/her life --

there

are so many degrees of kashrut, I actually saw ham *and* cheese on a deli

platter at a *very* Reform Rabbi's house at a Super Bowl party a few years

ago. Don't

think I've recovered yet! I guess I could say he was the least-complicated Jew

I've ever known :-)

 

 

 

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